Mayor Slay finds victim bloody and unconscious

St. Louis (KSDK) - St. Louis police are looking for a group of 10 to 15 people who brutally beat a 51-year-old man.

It happened near the public library in the 3300 block of South Grand around 11:40 p.m. on October 21.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was the first person to spot the victim. He tells NewsChannel 5 he was driving along Grand with his security officer when they saw the crowd from a distance.

Slay says when they got closer the crowd ran off, leaving the bloody and unconscious victim and a friend.

The friend said he and the victim were walking from a nearby grocery store when the man was punched in the face and knocked out cold for no reason.

Because the victim wasn't robbed, Mayor Slay believes this was another case of the "knockout game," a game played by teenagers where they attack unsuspecting victims with the goal of knocking that person unconscious.

It's been an on-going problem in St. Louis and actually lead to a death earlier this year.

The mayor called the attackers "thugs" and warned they won't be allowed to rule the streets. He says he's been in contact with St. Louis police chief Dan Isom, who has increased patrols in the neighborhood. But, so far there have been no arrests and police don't have much information to go on except that the suspects are between 15-20 years old.